Letter: It’s time for politicians to get their act together

It’s time for politicians to get their act together

During local, regional and national elections, we have mud-slinging and now use fact-checkers to uncover misleading or less-than-true information. In essence, we have job candidates who are misrepresenting information during the selection process. In the real world, this disqualifies job applicants.

After the elections, we have officials who seem to forget just why they are in office, or disregard who they represent, or overlook the concept of public servant. The current “fiscal cliff” issue is a serious matter that has the potential to reap financial hardship on the majority of U.S. residents. While reading to stay informed on this topic, one often finds mentioned the terms, “discussion” and “compromise,” the behaviors politicians need to display to avert a crisis.

Let’s revisit the beginning, though; we have incumbents who survived the fact-checkers, they have no clear job performance expectations, they recently acknowledged (in somewhat disbelief) that our country has become more diverse, their employment comes with unbelievable short- and long-term rewards. On the other hand, we are the electorate, the folks the politicians represent, the stakeholders the politicians are accountable to. If we are worried about going over the cliff, what can we do? Call our representatives in Congress or the Senate. Alas, few people like to hear that they are more part of the problem than the solution. Just what is going on?